1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to aerodynamic lift devices and, more particularly, to sailboat sails adapted to bear printed informational content.
2. Description of the Background Art
Industrious marketers routinely look for innovative ways to convey information, particularly information in the form of advertisements. Traditional forms of advertisement, i.e. print advertisement in periodical publications and television and radio advertising, flourish in the electronic age. With the advent of the Internet, advertisers have found an additional means of advertising, instantaneously, on a worldwide basis.
However, the advent of the electronic age has not ended the romance and relaxation associated with vacationing and/or leisuring near bodies of water. A significant portion of the population of humans on this planet repose at some time or another in their lives near lake and sea shores. For many of these vacationers and local residents alike, such time spent, whether brief or long-lasting, is accompanied by an overwhelming sense of awareness and relaxation of the surroundings, yielding one of the most significant opportunities for advertisers to ingratiate their messages and information into the memories of those near the water.
Unfortunately, the ability and right to physically place informational messages, e.g. advertisements, before vacationers and local residents near the water is severely limited by environmental factors and laws which limit or completely prohibit advertising structures such as billboards and other signs. Since those recreating near the water inevitably face the water, any land-based structures are for the most part directly behind beachgoers and therefore only seen for a small amount of time.
The use of banner planes, which fly translucent or transparent banners bearing messages which can only be read on one side, only provide limited exposure due to the fact that they are typically required to fly some distance offshore and fly at speeds in excess of 100 or more miles per hour. As a result, the banners are only in front of the eyes of each particular viewer for a brief time.
Therefore, a conveniently deployed information dissemination system is needed which does not require the construction of a permanent fixture in the water and which can be selectively maintained essentially in fixed position or moved very slowly before areas on the shore which happen to have the highest concentration of people at a given time.